Out-of-form Daichi Kamada dropped but injured Kaoru Mitoma a surprise call-up as Japan aim for fifth Asian title

Japan national team beat Thailand 5-0 in a friendly on 1 January, and after the match, the 26-man squad for the Asian Cup, which kicks off on 12 January, was announced.

Of the list, which includes Wataru Endo, who has been very successful at Liverpool, Takefusa Kubo, Junya Ito and Hidemasa Morita, coach Hajime Moriyasu said: “I made this group because it is the best team I could call upon”. The omission of previously core members Daichi Kamada and Ao Tanaka came as something of a surprise, but Moriyasu did not give reasons for the omissions, saying, “I would like to avoid talking about players who have not been called up”. It is thought that the decisions were made bearing in mind each player’s current position at their clubs.

Kamada has had limited opportunities for Lazio of late, while Tanaka has been a mainstay for Düsseldorf in Bundesliga 2 but is reportedly looking to make the step up to the first division this winter. If Japan wins the Asian Cup he could be out of the team for nearly a month, so it is reasonable to assume that players whose club situations are uncertain were not deemed suitable for call-ups.

On the other hand, there were also some surprise inclusions. Kaoru Mitoma, who is out of action, and Takehiro Tomiyasu, who recently recovered from injury, for instance, were selected. The latter, who plays for Arsenal, returned to action against Fulham on 31 December and is expected to play at the Asian Cup. However, Brighton winger Mitoma, who suffered an injury against Crystal Palace on 21 December, is expected to be out for up to six weeks and it is still unclear exactly when he will be able to return.

“I don’t know if he will be available for the first match of the tournament, but his recovery is coming along well,” Moriyasu explained of Mitoma’s call-up. “The medical staff of the national team and his club have been in contact with each other and we have called him up with the expectation that he will be able to play at an early stage.”

Mitoma is unlikely to feature in the group stage, but his ability to change games could well be needed once the team progresses to the knockout round.

Moriyasu also experienced the frustration of the defeat to Qatar

Japan will face Vietnam, Iraq and Indonesia in Group D. According to the latest FIFA rankings, Vietnam are ranked 94th, Iraq 63rd and Indonesia 146th in the world. This situates them all as lower-ranked opponents for Japan, who are ranked 17th, and the Samurai Blue should have no problems getting through.

Things become far less predictable in the knockout stages though, with Iran, South Korea and Australia all likely to be rivals for the championship.

Japan has won the tournament a record four times, but the most recent was back in 2011 under Alberto Zaccheroni. In the previous two tournaments they have lost to the UAE in the quarter-finals after a penalty shoot-out (2015) and in the final against Qatar (2019), when they were beaten 3-1.

Only four members of this year’s squad – Tomiyasu, Endo, Ito and Takumi Minamino – were also involved at the previous tournament. “We still have regrets that we didn’t win last time,” said Moriyasu, who also experienced the frustration of the defeat to Qatar. “We want to fight not only with regret but also with aspirations for further growth as we set ourselves the high target of winning on the world stage.”

Japan will consequently travel to Qatar with a high level of ambition and a strong desire for revenge.

Full Japan National Team squad

Goalkeepers

Daiya Maekawa (Vissel Kobe), Zion Suzuki (Sint-Truiden), Taishi Brandon Nozawa（FC Tokyo）

Defenders

Shogo Taniguchi (Al-Rayyan), Ko Itakura（Borussia Mönchengladbach）, Tsuyoshi Watanabe（Gent）, Yuta Nakayama (Huddersfield Town), Koki Machida (Royale Union Saint-Gilloise), Seiya Maikuma (Cerezo Osaka), Takehiro Tomiyasu (Arsenal), Hiroki Ito (Stuttgart), Yukinari Sugawara (AZ Alkmaar)

Midfielders

Wataru Endo (Liverpool), Junya Ito (Stade Reims), Takumi Minamino (AS Monaco), Hidemasa Morita (Sporting CP), Kaoru Mitoma (Brighton and Hove Albion), Reo Hatate (Celtic), Ritsu Doan (Freiburg), Keito Nakamura (Stade Reims), Kaishu Sano (Kashima Antlers), Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad)

Forwards

Takuma Asano (Bochum), Daizen Maeda (Celtic), Ayase Ueda (Feyenoord), Mao Hosoya（Kashiwa Reysol）